Navy pays a penny to get rid of carrier

By Brad Lendon, CNN

Updated 9:13 AM ET, Fri May 9, 2014

U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

Three Nimitz-class aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), top, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), center, and USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) are pierside at Naval Air Station North Island near San Diego on June 12, 2015. The Vinson has just recently returned from a 10-month deployment. The Reagan is preparing for a move to Japan later this year and the Stennis was making a port call after steaming from its homeport of Bremerton, Washington. Click through the gallery to see more U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt departs Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on Wednesday, March 11, for a scheduled deployment. The Nimitz-class carrier's departure was delayed for two days after marine growth clogged sea water intakes. Divers went into the 36-degree water to clean out the intakes and allow the ship to get under way. The cold water created a fog that made it seem the ship was in a cloud.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

A rainbow forms over the bow of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis as the ship steams in the Pacific Ocean on February 3, 2015.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

The USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, is seen near the coast of Indonesia in 2005. The carrier recently received a new anchor from the decommissioned USS Enterprise.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

U.S. aircraft carrier classes – The USS Ronald Reagan, a member of the Nimitz class of aircraft carriers, enters San Diego harbor in July 2004. The U.S. Navy announced that the ship will join the U.S. 7th Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

The USS Ranger (CV-61) arrives at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1993. The Forrestal-class carrier, which featured in the movie "Top Gun," is to be scrapped this year.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

In this photo released by the U.S. Navy, a tugboat works alongside the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Saratoga on Thursday, August 21, in Newport, Rhode Island. The Navy has paid a Texas recycling company a penny to dispose of the Saratoga, part of the Forrestal-class of "supercarrier" vessels built for the Atomic Age. The carrier was decommissioned 20 years ago.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

Ben Hansen, a U.S. Navy boatswain's mate, and his wife, Jessica, join in the festivities as the Navy's newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, gets christened in November in Newport News, Virginia. The Gerald R. Ford is the first ship in the Navy's newest class of aircraft carriers under the same name.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

Lightning strikes over the flight deck of the USS John C. Stennis, another Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, as the ship moves through the Persian Gulf in 2007. All of the Navy's 10 active aircraft carriers are from the Nimitz class, which started in 1975 with the commission of the USS Nimitz.

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Aircrew members are lifted from the flight deck of the USS John F. Kennedy during an exercise in 2002. The ship, which was decommissioned in 2007, was the only member of its class.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

An F/A-18 Hornet launches from the USS Enterprise in 2007. The Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was decommissioned in 2012. Like the John F. Kennedy, it was the only ship built in its class.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

The Kitty Hawk class was named for the USS Kitty Hawk, seen here departing Yokosuka, Japan, in 2008. At that time, the Kitty Hawk was the oldest carrier in the U.S. Navy and the only conventional-power aircraft carrier still in commission. It was decommissioned in 2009.

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The USS Independence, a member of the Forrestal class that preceded the Kitty Hawk class, heads up the East River in New York in 1959.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

Helicopters sit on the flight deck of the USS Saipan during the mid-1950s. The ship was one of two members of the Saipan class.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

The USS Midway, namesake of the Midway class of aircraft carriers, floats off the coast of North Vietnam in 1972. It was named after the Battle of Midway, when U.S. forces held back a Japanese attempt to take the Pacific atoll in 1942.

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The USS Princeton, part of the Independence class, moves off the coast of Seattle in 1944.

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The Essex-class USS Franklin burns after being hit by a Japanese dive bomber in 1945. The ship was named after Benjamin Franklin and nicknamed "Big Ben."

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The USS Wasp burns in the Coral Sea after being struck by three torpedoes from a Japanese submarine in 1942. The ship, the only one of its class, would ultimately sink because of the damage.

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U.S. aircraft carrier classes22 photos

B-25 bombers sit on the deck of the USS Hornet in the Pacific Ocean in 1942. The Hornet, one of three carriers in the Yorktown class, was the ship that launched the bombers flown by Air Force Lt. Col. James Doolittle and his pilots during an air raid in Tokyo four months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It also was involved in the Battle of Midway.

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Navy personnel work on board the USS Ranger circa 1942. The Ranger was the first ship to be designed and built specifically as an aircraft carrier. It was the only ship in its class.

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There have actually been two aircraft carriers named after the Revolutionary War's Battle of Saratoga. The first USS Saratoga, seen here moving toward San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in 1945, was one of two members of the Lexington class of aircraft carriers.

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The USS Langley, the Navy's first aircraft carrier and sole member of its class, steams off the coast of Baltimore in 1924.

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Story highlights

The former USS Saratoga is to be recycled in Texas

The aircraft carrier served more than 38 years in the Navy

The former USS Forrestal was towed to Texas for recycling earlier this year

For the second time in two years, the U.S. Navy is parting with one of its aircraft carriers for a penny.

The Navy announced Thursday it's paying ESCO Marine of Brownsville, Texas, one cent to take the former USS Saratoga off its hands for dismantling and recycling.

The warship was decommissioned in 1994. It is now at Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island and is expected to be towed to Texas in the summer, the Navy said.

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The 56,000-ton Saratoga was commissioned in 1956 and saw action off North Vietnam in 1972 and 1973.

In 1985, fighters from the Saratoga helped capture terrorists who hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean, forcing a jetliner carrying them to land at an air base in Sicily.

The carrier was also part of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and air operations over the Balkans in 1992, 1993 and 1994, according to Navy records.

The Saratoga will follow the former USS Forrestal to dismantling in Texas. That ship was towed to All Star Metals of Brownsville earlier this year, with the Navy paying a penny to the ship recycler under a contract awarded last October.

The recyclers make money from selling the metal they salvage from the warships.

A third carrier, the former USS Constellation, is expected to meet a similar fate soon, according to a Navy statement.